Becoming a Stranger
by gurl.from.damnation
Summary: Well, if you want to find out, read it. Warnings: Onesided IkeSoren and serious angst. Oneshot. I will not continue this, so do not ask me.


A/N: Final warning, this story will NOT have a happy ending. Oh, and surprisingly, there are no spoilers, so don't be worried about that.

When Ike woke up, he was in a very estatic mood, to say the least. Today was the day that he was going to confess his undying love...to a guy. But this wasn't any guy, this was his best friend, his tactician, and his, hopefully, lover. This guy was Soren.

He had known that he was in love for sometime, but, as almost everyone is, he was scared. Scared of rejection, scared of losing someone dear, scared of being shunned by his friends and looked down upon.

He finally worked up the courage and decided that today, this exact day, no matter the outcome, he was going to tell him. He had to, lest the day that his bottle of emotions break, spilling out to all who dared to be near. Spilling out to anyone and everyone. A taboo, realized, and then, the shunning would happen. What would happen to him? Would he be relieved of his duties for being a homosexual? Would the Apostle withdraw her support? Would the Laguz not help out an army, a country, who commander was gay? Would Daein win the war?

Too many questions. Too many doubts. Too few answers. That was why he had to work up the nerve to tell. To protect the cause, to protect the army, to protect his sanity and his love.

Ike tried to go unnoticed, so he wouldn't raise suspicion as to what he was up to. But, as there seems to always be, someone notices. This someone had to be Oscar, the guy almost everyone thought to be blind. The cheerful, calm one of the army. Well, at least it wasn't Boyd; he would never quit pestering him until he told him. Ike really, REALLY didn't want anyone to find out, even one of his most trusted companions.

"Oh, nothing really. It's just really a beautiful day, despite it being the middle of a war," he lied.

Oscar replied, "Hmm...I guess so. You just seem really happy."

"I am."

"Well, at least someone is," he gestured over to Boyd and Kieran, his so-called 'rival', who were currently having an argument. "Woah, better stop them before they kill each other," he ran off as the two hot heads were starting to throw punches.

The lord just moved on, not caring about anything except telling Soren his secret. There were a few more people that started to start a conversation with him, but he politely bypassed them.

Then he reached his destination, the teen's tent. He took a deep breath and entered. 'No turning back now,' he thought as he called to get the sage's attention. He was currently reading a book, that surprisingly wasn't on magic. It was about mythology.

"Yes, Commander," Soren answered.

"Please don't call me Commander in private. You know better than everyone that I hate titles."

"Sorry. What do you need?"

"I came to tell you something. Something extremely important."

"Well, what is it?"

"Um, could we go somewhere private?"

"Is it really that important that my tent, the one who I forbade everyone from even thinking about entering unless it was of upmost importance, is not safe enough."

"Well, I don't need anone eavesdropping. Please, it won't take long, I promise."

"Fine," he snapped his book shut. 'It amazes me how he can read a book and still pay attention to every word someone says.'

They didn't travel that far from the campsite, just far enough that Ike was sure no one would hear them, well, at least this early in the morning. "Now, you wanted to tell me something?"

Ike swallowed, "Yes, I did." Ashera, he was so nervous. He had to sit down. The young lord searched for something that he could sit down on. 'A log, perfect,' he mused to himself. He sat down and motioned for Soren to do the same. The sage complied and took a seat next to his leader.

He took a long, deep breath as he was about to utter the words that he was deathly afraid to leave his thoughts. "Soren...," he trailed off.

Soren was starting to lose his patience, but he wouldn't dare tell Ike, "What is it Ike?" The teen couldn't believe that he said this about 3 times already. 'I swear, talking to a little kid is easier than this.'

"Well...I-I kinda, sorta think that I l-l-love you. I mean I don't think, I know that I love you," he thought that this was easier than most said it was. Heck, this was almost too easy.

Silence followed. And it stayed silent for what seemed like forever. Ike was patiently waiting for his reply, and even if he was rejected, he somehow knew that Soren would always be his friend. Soren, on the other hand, was trying to soak it all in. 'He...loves...me. As in...more than a...friend,' Soren was in shock. He couldn't believe this, there could be no way that he wanted to be more than friends, Soren didn't want this. He couldn't, not to Ike. His secret, if found out, would destroy them. And besides, he made a promise to himself: he would never fall in love, and if he did, he would do all things necessary to stop it. There was just too much at stake for him to let this happen. He has driven many people away when they found out the truth about him.

'This is taking too long. He's never taken this long to answer anything,' Ike thought. He face started to drop. His heart started to pound like an ancient wardrum. "Soren...," he asked cautiously.

The sage dropped his head and let it hang, "I don't know you anymore." He was doing the ultimate. He was pushing his best friend away.

"What do you mean, you know me better than anyone, even my own sister."

Tears started to break away from his eyes, very uncharacteristic for the stotic tactician, "I don't know you anymore. What can't you understand about that? I don't want to know you anymore. I can't let myself love anyone." He yelled that out, almost painfully.

Ike's eyes instantly lost their luster. "Why can't you? What is going on that you can't love anyone? You keep pushing everyone away, for what reason? You can tell me, I won't think of you any different. Please, tell me."

"I'm sorry, but I haven't told anyone, even the people that know me. What makes you think that I will tell a stranger," with that, he stood up and started to walk away.

Ike felt like he was just stabbed with a sword and no one would bother to take it out. He quickly got up and grabbed Soren's wrist. He forced him to turn around, "What do you mean by that?" He almost spat out.

Soren however, kept his cool and calmly stated, "We were strangers before your father took me in his arms, before you became my best friend, before I felt like I belonged. Now, you have become a stranger to me all over again."

Ike released his grip on the younger teen's wrist.

There they stood, red against blue, not as friends, but as complete strangers.

A/N: I am getting so tired of stories with the same basic plot, some dude confessing was gay to his friend and that he liked him as more than a friend. Then the other one would say that it was actually what he had hoped for, 'causehe felt the same. Then they hook up. Even though that is nice and how everyone would like these confessions to go, this is not how everything is. So, I wanted to take a different perspective on a relationship. And, I can see Soren pushing anyone away if they told him this, even Ike.

This was my first attempt at agnst and I will not continue to make it a happy story. Sorry to anyone's day I ruined because they read this story. But I did warn you. Twice even.


End file.
